


pinnacle

by nonopiimagines



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: Knights of the Old Republic (Video Games)
Genre: Character Death, F/M, Sort Of, Spoilers, Unrequited Love, takes place as the exile is leaving trayus academy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:29:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27461977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nonopiimagines/pseuds/nonopiimagines
Summary: She doesn't look back as she leaves Trayus Academy. Her eyes are glued to the man before her.
Relationships: Female Jedi Exile/Atton "Jaq" Rand, The Jedi Exile/Atton "Jaq" Rand
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	pinnacle

She felt nothing. No victory. Not really. This was just the beginning of another cycle. Kreia confirmed that much before plunging to her death. 

All that was left now was to leave this decaying place, haunted by her past. This memorial. This embodiment of mistakes and opportunities. The rift in the Force.

But then she saw him. Collapsed on the bridge. His brown hair unmistakable and stark against the marbled white floors of Trayus Academy. Her mind wanted to burst into a run but her mortal body was still battered from Darth Sion and Darth Traya. She had to calmly walk forward, cradling her broken ribs, not putting too much pressure on her twisted ankle. 

“You’re… alive. Did... I... save you yet?”

His voice was small and his breaths labored. A beaten man left to die his slow, lonely death. 

“Atton.” She knelt next to him, examining his bruises, his broken armor, his blood-soaked clothes. But she could feel his impending death more than see it before her. The Force made sure of that. “Of course you saved me. You always have. You always will.”

He pushed out a hoarse laugh, his body wincing with the effort of it. This bruised, beaten man. She began her journey with him and here it would end. On Malachor V. The pinnacle of her life. Giving and taking, always in the same breath. Still a graveyard of her failures as a leader, her failures as a friend. 

But she would not let him die alone.

Despite her body’s groans and refusals to cooperate, she dragged Atton over to the wall of the cliff face, propping him up in the crook of her arm. With shaky hands, she used what little stamina she had left to guide the Force back to Atton, not to heal his wounds but to provide him comfort, warmth, safety in his last moments. It was all she could manage but he deserved so much more.

“Did you get him?” Atton’s voice was breathy and hollow, but still a hint of his trademark nonchalance.

She smiled mournfully. “Darth Sion? Yeah, he’s dead. I only had to kill him four separate times, but that last time was for you and he felt it.” 

Atton scoffed, his body becoming heavier against her, unable to hold himself up. But still he hung on.

“You know I love you?” He sounded scared, truly scared for the first time since she found him on Peragus. 

She knew what kind of love he meant. A love they were never meant to have. The kind of love where trust was the basis, the foundation of their relationship. The kind of love that went deeper than any other sentient bond they had. To share everything between them, the light and the dark. But it was not meant to be. Not this time.

“I know. I love you too.” But she could pretend, just for this moment, just for him. She grabbed his hand and there was no hesitation as she held him closer and closer, as the life ebbed away from him. They could stay rooted here forever, the ferocious wind blowing and whipping around them, a testament to their devotion for each other, for what they meant. But this facade was finite, infinitesimally small, and soon it was over. 

The Ebon Hawk landed a short distance away and it was time to let go. _I want to hold on a bit longer_ , she thought to no one in particular. There was no one listening. Mandalore and Mical arrived to pry Atton’s body from her arms, his hand from her hand. Mira held her back as she tried to run to him once more, her mind finally transcending her body’s limits. But it wasn’t enough, it would never be enough.

**Author's Note:**

> I totally didn't give a crap about Atton my first run of kotor2, so the ending where he dies from wounds sustained from Darth Sion was bittersweet.
> 
> find me on tumblr @nonopiimagines


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